Safety in Numbers

Training last night saw the team out along the coast between the lighthouse and the Western Mile Marker, checking access routes, making sure locks were working and discussing the best access/exit points for us and our kit in any given situation.

For incidents near Anvil Point we'd use routes through Durlston Castle and the visitor centre car park, but as we get further along the coast towards the Cattle Troughs area (a popular climbing area) we'd probably think about access through Belle Vue Farm at the top of Benlease Way.  In the event, we drove in at Durlston last night and having re-familiarised ourselves with the various tracks, we left via Belle Vue.

All in all, a good couple of hours invested which could save crucial minutes in an emergency.

How many coastguards does it take to open a lock?  Well quite a few - this lock had siezed and so took several minutes' persuasion and a good dose of WD40.  The rest of the guys are looking out for a herd of cows that had taken an interest in both them and our truck.  Other pics taken by the chaps looking back from the gate will show the truck surrounded by the ferrocious beasts, some even licking it and attempting to eat it, but I don't have any of those pics.  Not me, I'm not daft, there's no way I was getting out.